So, for a long time, my truck has had an annoying little problem, when idling and under load and/or accelerating, there was a quiet, fast pace clicking noise coming from the top end of the engine (ie: lifter problem). Well, this morning I changed my oil, and it wasn't untill AFTER I finished the entire process that I noticed I bought 5w-30 instead of the regular 10w-30. Well ****. I looked in my owner's manual and it notes that 5w-30 is to be used for "Extreme" driving conditions... Whatever that means. So I decided that I'd just go with it. After driving around for awhile I noticed the ticking was gone... After an hour or so trying to replicate the ticking, I couldn't. I've ruled out the other causes, it wasn't a gas ping, I tried Shell, Exxon, QT, Racetrack, every gas station in town on all octanes and it still clicked, I used Seafoam, I used fuel injector cleaner, and I checked all the bearings on the belt pullies.

Just thought I shared. My guess is that the lifters need a thicker oil for optimum performance, my truck is driving better and has a little more pep with 5w-30.

 

My truck sounds terrible with 10w-30. I did that once. I run 0w-20 Mobil 1 Synthetic and it's quiet. All except the power steering pump that is.

 

10W-30 is thicker than 5W-30. Lower number = lighter (less viscosity) oil.